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The punishment of the crimes of communism is linked to the fate of Albania and its European future!

2026-01-29 15:07:00, Opinione Besim Ndregjoni

The punishment of the crimes of communism is linked to the fate of Albania and

Writer Ismail Kadare, for the first time, addresses one of the non-governmental institutions that represents the voice of former prisoners and the politically persecuted, in an exclusive letter on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its founding, joining the concern for the unsolved crimes of communism and the delay in the rehabilitation of former convicts related to them.

Kadare's greeting is addressed to the Nationwide Union of Political Prisoners and Persecuted Persons and the President of the Union, Besim Ndregjoni:

Here is Ismail Kadare's full letter: "Honored friends of the Nationwide Union of Political Prisoners and Persecuted of Albania.

Mr. President of the Union, Besim Ndregjoni!

I read your letter with deep shock. Where you express your rightful concern about the lack of sufficient punishment for the crimes of communism in Albania, about the delay in the rehabilitation of those convicted and all those associated with them. The fact that this is not the first time that you have raised such problems adds to their drama and makes the delay in your response even more inexcusable. You mention shocking figures about the terror of the communist regime, about those convicted of imprisonment and torture, about those interned, those shot with and without trial, about women and clergy of all faiths, whose graves have not yet been found, about extermination camps and all kinds of horrors that the human mind finds difficult to imagine. While the reluctance to reveal these crimes becomes ever more evident, the zeal to restore the images of the overthrown tyranny, and of its savage characters, in a subdued and almost normal hue, is becoming more and more apparent. This is accompanied by memories of nostalgic days, with insidious expressions in the form of maxims: “That's how it was then”. There were also good things”, etc. etc. The normal time of a people includes different phases, sometimes more prosperous and sometimes more difficult. But a period of terror like the one mentioned above is unbearable. Such a time and such a history are not the time and history of the existence of a people, but those of its extinction. Therefore, their denial is necessary, an hour ago. I understand you and fully support you in your action, which does not belong only to you, but is directly related to the fate of Albania and its European future.

With respect, Ismail Kadare"